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Once there was a smart fish who taught himself to read. Finding
reading material wasn't difficult because the oceans had become the trash
bins for the world. Millions of people loaded their rubbish on
giant barges and sent it far out to sea where they dumped it. Although
this wasn't good for the oceans, it provided the brilliant fish with a
never-ending supply of reading material. One day the fish read an article that said all life was dependent on water. It pointed out that many places on the planet could no longer sustain life because of insufficient water. The highly intelligent fish decided that if water was so important, and his survival depended on it, he must find some water for himself. He gave up reading and spent the rest of his days swimming in the oceans relentlessly searching for water. Water became his holy grail. The fish eventually died without discovering he had been swimming in an ocean of water every day of his life. This fish is like billions of people who swim in God's ocean of love without realizing it's there. Although it sustains them, supports them, and keeps them alive, they can't see it or feel it because they never learned to focus their mind on it. THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN YOUR WORLD IS LOVE Love is the power and presence of God in the world. When you see love, you see God at work. If you want to experience God's presence and power, you must focus on his love and send that love to other people. It all comes down to the focus of your mind. Your mental focus determines whether you will sink or swim in God's ocean of love. A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God? I can tell you one thing it is not. It's definitely not having God speak to you with an audible voice. After living for fifty-seven years on planet earth, I can unequivocally state that I have never heard God speak with an audible voice. I have practiced medicine for more than thirty years, and the few people I met who believed that God spoke to them in audible tones were all mentally ill. Most of them were residing in psychiatric hospitals, living in a delusional world in which they talked to God, and God talked back to them. If you hear God speak to you in audible tones, you probably have a problem and need help. So how can you have a personal relationship with God, when God doesn't talk to you with an audible voice? It seems like a one-sided conversation if you do all the talking. Is this personal relationship with God just spiritual double-talk? I must confess I sometimes wish my "personal relationship" with God seemed a little more personal, and a little less one-sided. It appears that this side of eternity, God has chosen to relate to us through nonverbal channels. I suspect if God spoke in audible tones, we would end up having a relationship based on intimidation rather than love. His Megavoice would relentlessly echo in the chambers of our mind, and there would be no escape. One thing seems certain: God does not want to have a relationship with us based on intimidation. He will have a relationship based on love or none at all. Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." When you hear Jesus speak, you are hearing the voice of God. That should settle the issue about God speaking to you in an audible voice. God has been there and done that. Nevertheless, that was 2000 years ago, and the ancient message of love doesn't seem very personal. God broke into history, made an announcement, demonstrated his love, and then his voice went silent, or so it seems to many people. So what's a person to do if he or she wants to have a personal relationship with God? How do you get up close and personal with God? It's easier than you might think. When you send God's love to other people, you immediately experience God's presence and power. God's voice of love is your voice, and God's arms of love are your arms. When you tell other people about God's love, his love flows through you to other people, and you experience God's presence and power. When you show God's love to other people, when you become his arms of love and put those arms around the world, God becomes powerfully present in your life in the here and now. It's just that simple. God speaks his message of love millions of times each day using people just like you and me. God isn't silent. If anyone is silent, it's you and me. God spoke definitively once in the past, and now it's up to us to become his voice and arms of love. That's how we experience God's presence and power. That's how we have a personal relationship with God based on love. |
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